Superman Reboot To Have Darker Tone

[FormerBondFan]

Aug 22 2008 6:21 PM EDT
Superman Reboot To Have Darker Tone, Thanks To Batman's Success
Along with another caped crusader sequel, Warner Bros. readying flicks for at least two more DC Comics heroes.

By Shawn Adler

In over 70 years of shared comic history they've existed mostly as reluctant friends, memorably coming to blows on several occasions. The bottom line is that Superman doesn't really like Batman at all, so it's worth wondering how he'd feel now that he's been saved by him.

Flush with the success of "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros. has announced an ambitious slate of upcoming movies based on its DC Comics properties to be released within the next three years — notably a third Batman movie and a Superman reboot, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Announcement of the reboot — a complete reimagining along the lines of this year's "The Incredible Hulk" — comes two years after director Bryan Singer failed to capture public imagination with a conflicted take on the Big Blue Boy Scout, and nearly two months after the gritty, nihilistic "The Dark Knight" opened to record-breaking numbers.

So how will Warner Bros. turn Superman around? By making him even darker, Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov told the newspaper.

" 'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," Robinov said of Singer's movie, which made just $215 million domestically. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned," he continued. "Had 'Superman' worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009, but now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman. We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the character allows it."

In addition to a "Batman 3" and a new "Superman," Warner Bros. also plans to release two other comic book movies (not including "Watchmen") by 2012. Among the likely candidates for the big-screen treatment are the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and, of course, the Green Arrow, whose film, "Super Max" takes place in a high-security prison for meta-humans.

Like rival Marvel Studios — who this year released the mega-successful "Iron Man" as well as "The Incredible Hulk" — Warner Bros. plans to release standalone films for all of its heroes with the ultimate goal of creating a super team-up, Robinov told the Journal. "The Avengers," a superhero consortium of Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Ant-Man and Thor, will get a release in 2011.

DC's analogue, "Justice League of America," which had been slated to open next year, will instead wait until after the next four films.

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

[Kristatos]

Meh. "Oh look, a successful film, let's copy it".

[Dr. No]

SR was a badly executed movie. The old superman story could work, it doesn't need to be Darker. Smallville does ok with the basic story and young Superman growing up.

Superman need to have a reason to do somthing in his movies, and comics, he is almost invulnerable with almost no limit to his powers, IMO there is a limit to how many stories can be done like that. Doomsday was the dig thing years ago but even that was a cheat, like bat man back breaking. But they did have a better story for Bruce and Jean-Paul than all of the super pretenders piled together.

[Kristatos]

Superman need to have a reason to do somthing in his movies, and comics, he is almost invulnerable with almost no limit to his powers, IMO there is a limit to how many stories can be done like that.

J. Michael Strazynski (sp?) attacked that particular piece of wisdom some years ago. He pointed out that Superman does have an obvious weakness, Kryptonite, but he also has a less obvious weakness in the form of loyalty to his (human, vulnerable) friends. JMS thought the latter made for far more interesting stories.

[Dr. No]

Superman need to have a reason to do somthing in his movies, and comics, he is almost invulnerable with almost no limit to his powers, IMO there is a limit to how many stories can be done like that.

J. Michael Strazynski (sp?) attacked that particular piece of wisdom some years ago. He pointed out that Superman does have an obvious weakness, Kryptonite, but he also has a less obvious weakness in the form of loyalty to his (human, vulnerable) friends. JMS thought the latter made for far more interesting stories.

He is right, it can work. It didn't in SR because they changed adn had an awful plot device for Luthor
Smallville does a decent job with what they have, but even they keep repeating themselves and have convenient memory lapses to maintain the status quo.

JMS is right but IMO HWood writers and producers are too lazy to keep up the quality.

They could take the best stories of smallville (only get 6-8 good one per season) and the comics and then make a series like Harry Potter that follows Clark as he becomes superman. They don't have to rush all the bad guys out on the screen, they can take their time and get around to them, like the Spiderman series did before Spidy 3.

[stockslivevan]

I thought the first three seasons of Smallville had some of the best moments on television, I'm dead serious. But after season four, boy did it really sink low. I used to be a very loyal fan of the show and vowed never to stop watching even if thing seemed worse because I believed it could get better. It never happened and by season seven when they brought in Supergirl for a ratings boost I gave up and never looked back. Hearing news of season 8 by bringing in Doomsday of all villains saddens me of the state of the show because it really did used to be good.

The season three episode Memoria is probably the best Luthor episode and it perfectly defines the relationship between Lex and his father, brilliantly played by John Glover. That's what I used to like about the show, besides Welling it had a strong cast. Michael Rosenbaum, John Schneider, John Glover and Allison Mack really made it worthwhile.

When the writers killed off Jonathan Kent by having Clark Kent go back in time to save the life of Lana Lane KNOWING FULL WELL THAT SOMEONE ELSE WOULD DIE ANYWAY is the moment the show jumped the shark. After that point my interest slowly deteriorated to the point I stopped watching for good.

[Dr. No]

yeah we used to watch it, I stopped around the 5th season and started renting it I really like the 1st adn 2nd season.

The show that broke the camels back was I think in the 5th season , a Halloween special with Lana in some Vampire Sorority, Mrs No (a Dr in her own right) walked out! Later on the DVD release the producers commentary they actually were sayign sorry to the fans

My favorite scene in the first series was in the first show when Clark's friends (the ever cute Allison Mack and whats-his-face) were talking about how he couldn't get with in 3 ft of Lana before falling apart. Beautifully done. We at home know why, and it was fun watching him learn that earth women with dark hair are for looking, not touching

I was upset at how Jonathan dies. it was a waste so many good way to go that would have mattered to the show and superman myth and they drop the ball.
I did l;ike the much show after that one, the collage kids were flatlining with some Kryptonite-gatorade cocktail and Clark (flat lining) saw Jonathan, that was pretty well done.

Last I saw they killed off Chloe Sullivan to save (the not really the real) Lois lane

[FormerBondFan]

SR was a badly executed movie. The old superman story could work, it doesn't need to be Darker. Smallville does ok with the basic story and young Superman growing up.

Superman need to have a reason to do somthing in his movies, and comics, he is almost invulnerable with almost no limit to his powers, IMO there is a limit to how many stories can be done like that. Doomsday was the dig thing years ago but even that was a cheat, like bat man back breaking. But they did have a better story for Bruce and Jean-Paul than all of the super pretenders piled together.

Warner Bros. could use Superman: Birthright for the reboot.

[stockslivevan]

Oh god, that vampire episode. I almost forgot of that one, oh man, I'm not even going to give that a thought. That was just as bad as Lana, Chloe and Lois turning into witches and torturing Clark S&M style with leather suits and having him in his underwear. I think season four was a pretty big drop for the show, but season five in its first few episodes (aside from having Clark have sex with Lana) were pretty decent and then once Jonathan Kent is killed off it felt like they killed off the heart of the show.

But yeah, the show has gotten extremely stupid. From what I remember, Lois dropped out of college on her sixth episode and later so did Clark when Jonathan got killed over his stupidity. From what I remember, none of them ever go back to college, yet from what I'm hearing of the new season they're getting jobs at THE DAILY PLANET. Isn't that supposed to be the real life equivalent to THE NEW YORK TIMES? Shouldn't they have finished college and gotten degrees? Is the show actually trying to convince its audiences that two college drop outs can successfully get a job where all the top journalists have earned their way to their positions through hard work? Dumb. Absolutely stupid. Yeah sure this isn't a real world, but it's only Superman and his foes that are not supposed to be realistic while the rest of the world is watching on and doing what any real person would do if such characters existed.

Man, I could write essays of my frustration with the direction this show took. I've wrote quite a lot over at other forums concerning this show. I'm not a Smallville basher, otherwise I would have written off this show as "90210 in Tights" which is not the case. Nope, I'm just a fan who loves this show so much that I can criticize it because I care. Or at least I care of what it used to be. When I watch a recent episode I cringe a lot. There was a recent episode with the appearance of Pete Ross, Clark's best friend, and they absolutely destroyed the character just as bad as when they turned him into a racing freak using kryptonite gasoline (we're not even gonna go there). But then I'll watch an episode from the first three seasons and I will find myself in amazement at how it still holds up. It's not perfect, but it's got some really great stories and characterizations that MAKE SENSE (I'm looking at you vampire episode).

So how can this show be so good and suddenly become rubbish? I look at the two developers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and both of them have written very excellent episodes, very very good writing, characterization and storytelling. I find it bizarre how they could go from there and suddenly just lose their minds thinking a Clark/Lex/Lana triangle is what they think draws in the audiences. When season five was approaching Gough made a remark along the lines "Now that they're all legal, expect some juicy stuff" and he literally laughs after saying that. I'M DEAD F***ING SERIOUS.

Great, there I go again. I almost wrote another essay of Smallville ranting. That's just how passionate I am. Even I have never been this passionate as a Bond fan because I never did truly appreciate Bond until sometime after DAD released, so I never really got to experience a time as a passionate Bond fan when things were already bad and only looked to be getting worse. Perhaps that's how you feel about the Craig era, so I suppose I understand that annoying frustration. I experienced that with Smallville, but not Bond, so maybe it's not the perfect analogy because TV shows and films are a different beast. *looks back at what I wrote* Okay I just completed five paragraphs, now I'm on full essay territory. It's late at night and I think I've said enough for now, so maybe more on ol' Supes later.

[John Drake]

The thing I don't get about Smallville: How could Clark become Superman and have various battles with Lex Luthor when Lex Luthor was his friend at school and WOULD know that Superman was Clark Kent?

[stockslivevan]

The thing I don't get about Smallville: How could Clark become Superman and have various battles with Lex Luthor when Lex Luthor was his friend at school and WOULD know that Superman was Clark Kent?

I believe in certain versions Lex Luthor does know the identity of Superman but decides to keep that knowledge for himself and when all options fail decides to exploit that information as a trump card.

However, the writers really blew it with bringing in characters from Superman's time such as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, even Perry White to meeting Clark Kent without the glasses that now it's hardly believable that they wouldn't recognize him everyone's memory will be erased which would be such a cop out. The direction Smallville has taken over the years, I can't see how he'd end up as Superman.

[Dr. No]

The thing I don't get about Smallville: How could Clark become Superman and have various battles with Lex Luthor when Lex Luthor was his friend at school and WOULD know that Superman was Clark Kent?

I believe in certain versions Lex Luthor does know the identity of Superman but decides to keep that knowledge for himself and when all options fail decides to exploit that information as a trump card.

However, the writers really blew it with bringing in characters from Superman's time such as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, even Perry White to meeting Clark Kent without the glasses that now it's hardly believable that they wouldn't recognize him everyone's memory will be erased which would be such a cop out. The direction Smallville has taken over the years, I can't see how he'd end up as Superman.

I think some of the stories has Luthor in full knowledge of Superman family. He might have knocked off other bad guy getting to close to the secret .

I could see him having affection for the Kents like he does in smallville.

Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, even Perry White should have been left alone until he was superman and working at the Planet.

God I forgot about the kryptonite Fast and the Furious show from the 1st season...

Stocks have you ever read the DC Elseworld comics?
It is the DC superhero story told form different universe, like Jor El coming to earth and not his son. The Wayne's adopting a boy they found (Kal El) instead of having their own son (Bruce).

[stockslivevan]

God I forgot about the kryptonite Fast and the Furious show from the 1st season...

Correction, third season. Sorry for reminding you of that stupid plot too. The whole kryptonite mutant thing was interesting, but yeah, by the time krytonite gasoline came along it was deader than dead.

Stocks have you ever read the DC Elseworld comics?
It is the DC superhero story told form different universe, like Jor El coming to earth and not his son. The Wayne's adopting a boy they found (Kal El) instead of having their own son (Bruce).

I've never read Elseworld comics. In fact, I really don't read that much comics at all. I've only got bits such as John Byrne's Man of Steel mini-series, The Death of Superman and World Without A Superman. I've also got a book detailing on the entire history of Superman which even has a copy of the very first origin story from the newspaper strips, including bits from others such as corporate Lex Luthor offering a diner woman a promising future only to snag the chance away when she's thinking of it. Funny thing is that the book is 1997 and the last info on it says "A Superman film is now under development under the direction of Tim Burton starring Nic Cage as Superman, will be released in 1998".

I recall my first Superman comic book when I was 8 years old, it was with Superman encountering Aquaman when he had the long hair and beard and a prosthetic blade for an arm. Oh yeah, and Superman still had that stupid long hair by that point. Funny how Superman makes a comeback with long hair while at the same time Clark returns to the Daily Planet, with the same hairstyle. You'd think could have picked up on that.

[Dr. No]

Wasn't there a car race episode in the 1st season?

I thought kryptonite mutants idea was pretty good. Makes sense in the superman universe and i like the destruction of Krypton having a affect on earth. Meteor freaks was cool.

bringing in Reeves was a nice touch. The cute girl stuck in the phantom zone telling Clark he got the messages wrong he is supposed to save earth was good as well as explaining the phantom zone a bit more.
But didn't make much sense from what Superman II showed the phantom zone to be like:? oh well

I always hated the swapping powers shows where Clark is normal and some weirdo get his power. Lois and Clark did a similar show.

yep, superman has long hair and clark is sporting a new pony tail, do you think? Nah. couldn't be :D

The Eradicator was cool the only thing I liked from the Superman is dead story line.

[stockslivevan]

Wasn't there a car race episode in the 1st season?

Not that I recall. I just remember in season three Pete Ross acting really out of character. The racers even gave him a nickname, Pete "The Boss" Ross.

I thought kryptonite mutants idea was pretty good. Makes sense in the superman universe and i like the destruction of Krypton having a affect on earth. Meteor freaks was cool.

So did I, until it became a cliche where situations would be too similar and later freaks would basically have the same exact powers as one in a previous episode.

[Dr. No]

YEha the first mutants were cool, then everybody he ran across would have the same powers as the villain last week or last season.

Mrs No ( a Dr in her own right) started calling them "superpowered bitches". It seemedlike for while anyway every week had a new troubled teenage girl looking to take revenge and Clark the only one to stop them.

it was a nice touch having Chloe be a meteor freak after suspecting for so long that Clark was one.

[stockslivevan]

It seemedlike for while anyway every week had a new troubled teenage girl looking to take revenge and Clark the only one to stop them.

Your memory must be stale ( ) because all I remember was that EVERY FREAK was in love with Lana and would try to get her. I recall a bug boy mutant video taping her in bushes, a emo kid writing poems for Lana who would turn into a warewolf if he were exposed to the sun (!?!?), then there was a shapeshifting lesbian who loved Lana so much she wanted to be just like her by wearing the same clothes ect.

I could keep going with all of these freaks that had a thing for Lana. It was like the Spider-Man flicks, movie villain of the week kidnaps Mary Jane and Spidy has to rescue her.

[Dr. No]

It might be stale seeing as i have not watched most of the early series in years. but there was a season, or maybe a rerun set, that had a slew of female super nymphs.
plenty of male weirdos lusting after Lana too. Lana was almost always in peril from something, even justa bad hair day

[stockslivevan]

The show running producers had a weird crush on the actress, making her out to be some kind of goddess that everyone in Smallville desires. It's no coincidence when WB fired the two producers after season seven, it's been reported that in season eight Lana's role is being severely reduced to the point she'll only appear in maybe half of the episodes. I don't think her character ever missed an episode when those producers were still in charge.

[Dr. No]

Yeah, they over did the Lana angle. The first season she had cpt american all star as her boyfrined and clark couldn't come between them.
One line that Lex used that i like was the Lana thing was a high school drama, or something like it. HE was right then a season or two later he became involved in the center of lana love triangle.

less lana would have been better imho. 7 season worrying about what lana likes or doesn't like or why he can or can't tell her, or how precious she is was too much.